Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: A Hope's Flame
by Madnesz23
Summary: All stories of the Dungeons have a human transferred to the Pokémon world, but what if the hero is not a human, but a Pokémon with a birth defect? Follow the Chronicles of this young Charmander and his friends as they help raise a village from the ground and save the world from a darkness that seeks to consume all in shadow.
1. Prologue - A Question

High atop the snow-capped peaks of Mt. Enbor, a sole Charmander sat, staring out from the mountain as frost and ice coated the young Fire-Type as his fire was deafening close to going out, when a figure started to move from the cold of the harsh storm and flaked and hailed over the piece of mountain. It paused once in its approach before resuming to walk, except turning to the Charmander, drawing closer to see the sorry state he was in before pull off the bandana that covered the mouth, revealing more of the figure to be a Lucario, scars and marks trailing across its back and front while the bandana is revealed to be a scarf of light brown that wrapped around the neck, as it stopped short and addressed the Charmander on the frozen stone. "Do you not wish to live, young one? The response was sad, utterly soul-shattering as some of the frost flaked off and the lip trembled in frost and pain as he whimpered.

"Why should I live when I am a freak?" The Lucario wished to correct the young Fire-type, but halted when he took a closer look to see that the flame that flickered was not of orange, it was blue, a eerie blue that ghosts often use for their fire-based strikes or in causing fear within other Pokémon. The silence hung as the Charmander turned back to the spanning landscape and let dried-out tears flow down his cheeks to freeze on him or drop to the ground under him. "Let me die, no one will accept an outcast like me..." The Lucario, however, did not walk away, instead dropped to his knees and draw the Charmander in, ignoring the frost that bit at him or the meager flame that could only lightly sear him.

"No, in my heart, you will have a life far from the heights of this frost-capped mountain, you shall have love to carry with you for all time, you will leave a far greater mark on the world that would never believe to start with, thus I will not let... no, I refuse to let you die here." Slowly turning the Charmander around and drawing him into a hug, tears coming from both as the Lucario pulled out all the resent, all the pain and hurt to share in the suffering and free the Fire-type from it as the words continued. "If you cannot stand strong, find others who require your aid and help them stand for more than what they believed, to gain them the strength to fight for their hopes and dreams." The frost started to melt away as the fire grew ever bolder than before, the Lucario feeling the change as he continued in both the aura and his words. "You carry such a stronger heart than many I have encountered, but my next words are of truth, of courage, and resolve, a lesson that all Pokémon can learn from." He lifted the Charmander off the rock and held him close as he ran a hand over the head. "Fear is something we all must face, to never back down from it is a true sign of strength, a eternal flame that shines through the most darkened of times." The flame bloomed ever stronger as the Lucario remain in holding the Charmander before he felt arms wrap around his neck before he asked. "Are you willing... to be my son?"

"...Thank you... Dad." The Lucario nodded before he stood up and continued through the storm as he spoke.

"Let's go home, my love will be surprised by you." With that, both headed to a den high in the mountain range, the Charmander gaining a new hope within life and the Lucario coming to terms with a thought that he shared with his wife who was a Weavile and they both helped to get the Charmander back on his feet, cared for him, and showed him more than the resentment he was shunned with, the dim blue flame slowly brightening until the flame itself became a radiant azure, a symbol to both him and to many others for the cogs of time and space started to turn in wait for the change to come, a change that will liberate the lost, the forgotten, and the suffering.


	2. Chapter 1 - The Proving Youth

As the sounds of the forest resounded across the canopy, the resident Pokémon enjoyed the day with daylight streaming through the wide spaces and slipping through the branches when they started to hear something coming and hid out as a Charmander made his way through the dirt trail that coursed through. Having discarded his former name for a new one of Alexander five years prior to this travel, he had took it upon himself to find out where he could belong with his adoptive Father, Bacchus the Lucario, and Mother, Ivy the Weavile, sending him off with an emotional farewell as he took to traveling the land for the first time and see what he could find or where he would belong. He reached inside the sachet that Bacchus gave to him and peered over the map in it, the layout crude as it had been years since its last use, but Alexander didn't pay too mind to it as he traced a finger over the path he had taken, it was on the right course as there were no villages nearby that could aid him near Mt. Enbor, so he had to traverse the forest to find any signs of one so that he could have a basic point of location and a short home to use, but nothing came up on the map, his father even told him that it may not be enough as he put the map back in and sighed as he sat on a rock. "Well, just my luck to lose myself in the midst of this forest, I don't even know any of these Pokémon so getting backup or aid is going to be impossible."

Slowing his thoughts which had gone rampant at the quiet and silence that followed him, Alexander looked around to see what he could find, a landmark or marking that could direct on his way when he spotted one further in the forest, jumping off the rock and walking toward it and looking up to the mouth of the bellowing darkness as his tail blazed orange as part of his training with his father. His father also told him about such a cavern as he spotted shards of what could be reflective ore or material which helped to enforce the idea that he was looking straight into the opening of Midnight Cavern, a large cavern that was said to be the home of the Legendary Pokémon known as Giratina, the Pokémon who governed a world that bent reality and disrupted logic. In the more recent years, however, the cavern had suffered a number of cave-ins that stated that Giratina must either be sealing itself off or the Rock Pokémon that made their home high atop the mountain had caused enough that they had sealed away the powerful Pokémon, but that was not in his mind as he found it to be a marker and pulled out his map once more to see that he was close to a village called Seer's Peak on the account of the Xatu Council, a group of five that foresee the future, draw answers from the past, or converse with the most powerful Legendries, even those that travel through time itself or so it is believed, his smile dropping as the village was on the other side of the mountain and it would take a good half-day to get there and it would be sealed off, the residents from that place have a belief that night draws the more feral Pokémon to them and they seal the gates closed, something that Alexander wouldn't be able to change as he marked the spot and nodded before he attempted to leave, but stopped once more as he glanced to the ground in front of the cavern.

He turned to the opening and walked to the side to see it, footprints in the loose dirt and soil and their imprint matches that of a Machop which was odd as Bacchus had told him that the only place where Machops and their evolutions are likely to be is from Mt. Rage, a mountain far to the west and across the Great Ocean and devoted to their ideal god of some Pokémon that resembled the sun, but Alexander didn't know too much about it as he focused on the footprints and glancing among them to see them going into Midnight Cavern. "So, a Machop went into this cavern, but why did they...?" He rubbed his jaw before he glanced back into the cave and stood up straight, it had become a den of Poison and Dark-type Pokémon so it was possible that the Machop will be just fine...

But his heart was not in the thought as he gazed at the opening before stepping straight in with a whisper. "Well, I guess I just have to either see what I can or help this Machop out, whatever the cause, this is going to be exciting..." He pressed on and the darkness started to yield feral Pokémon all over as they openly fought him in the dark confines of the tunnels and poorly-lit passages that Alexander had to navigate, not fearing the shadows as he seemed to know where to head, where to go in the twisting halls of stone as he descended down the way through dug-out passages or ancient stairways as he followed the trail, simple foes like Poochynas and Oddishs blocking his path with more dangerous foes like Ekans or wandering Gastlys as well, but with all the battle and fight, Alexander felt his power grow even more, but he was short in mustering his breath quite yet, a mere Ember would be impossible at the time as he continued through the passages to his directed path.  
Soon, he reached a safe zone which was odd, but he did not think too much into it as the other ways were blocked off with huge boulders and rocks that the path he had to follow was the same one that the Machop had went through, so with that in mind, he checked the Explorer's Map that Bacchus had stored from his younger, adventuring days and found that he was on the fourth floor of Midnight Cavern and the room ahead was a dead end before turning his attention to his obtained inventory, his sachet not big enough like the Explorer Bags, but it worked out as he had found several Pokémon Dollars, some Oran and Pecha berries, and nothing more for the time being as he glanced to the room where sounds of fighting echoed from before he, standing back up from the wall he leaned against, stretched and headed in to the Fighting-Type brawling it out, his attacks not effective against the Ghost-Types that had swarmed him, but he still prevailed in the end as Alexander raised a brow to the action, he must have been fighting the whole way through and leaving nothing to chance as he brought down another pack of Poochynas and sent them skittering away in defeat before he shouted to the echo of the chamber.  
"Is that all you got; bring me an actual challenge!" Alexander couldn't help but accept the declare as he pulled off his sachet and rested it in a hidden alcove as he spoke up, drawing the Machop's attention.

"Be careful for what you wish for..." This pulled the Machop to his position as the Charmander motioned with his claw. "...You may falling without notice." The Fighting-type jumped off the rock he proclaimed from and the two started to circle each other before they both struck, Alexander's Scratch to the Machop's Low Kick, both impacting as claw marks slashed across the chest while his own was pushed back with the forceful kick, sending him tumbling back as he gasped, giving him little time to dodge as another Low Kick came, but missed as Alexander rolled backward before closing the distance and striking another powerful blow against the Machop, even as he tried to lower the Fire-type's defense with a glare, but Alexander allowed a growl to emit from his throat, spooking the Machop a the distance closed once more with each other exchanging blows, but Alexander's trained sense and abnormal ability to control Aura stopped him short as he felt them and then felt... a group of dark intention coming for them, so he used a Smokescreen, blanketing the whole area as he jumped back and waited, the Machop swinging about before a number of screeches filled the room, Alexander barely stopping the sound with cupping his ears, but the Machop was least favored as he screamed in pain before stumbling about in a daze before a number of Zubats swarmed and attacked him, bringing him down to his knees as Alexander decided to strike.

By surprise, the Zubats were forced to scatter as Alexander sprinted up and shook the Machop in speaking. "Get yourself together, we have got unfriendly company!" Somehow, the Fighting-Type shook himself free from the daze before he nodded with a look to Alexander and both stood before the swarm, none of the bats managing to stop them and their solid resolve as Alexander finally mastered his Ember attack and swings from the Machop meant that he learned how to control his power enough for chops as the numbers lost their meaning and even their leader of a Golbat was somehow bested by two novice Pokémon and the heat of battle started to settle as both loosened up and looked about as the smoke cleared and their backs were to each other as the knocked foes were left on the ground around them, the Golbat twitching from burns and beating, before both turned their heads and looked at each other, turning fully to the other in the silence before Alexander extended a claw and offered a smile, the Machop returning it as he gripped the outstretched hand and shook, a bond suddenly built in the embers of battle and forging a new bond that would soon stand the test of foes and time itself soon enough...


End file.
